Days of Survival Craft
by mintysplash
Summary: This is the story of a young 13 year old girl named Violette-Rati when she awakes in a strange new world. Join her adventure to discover what happened to destroy the mysterious city of Dagmar.
1. Chapter 1

SC day 1

I wake with a bleariness in my eyes. I'm in a strange room, but it seems vaguely familiar. The walls are a pale lilac color, and the floors are a shiny brown hardwood.

I sit up, and my head throbs, but I push the pain to the back of my mind. I have to get out of here... something isn't right.

I stand, and immediately the blood rushes to my feet and I feel dizzy. I take a few steps to regain my balance. I breath out, and open a door a few feet from where the bed sits.

It's an empty closet, and I suddenly hear the door click closed behind me. Panicking, I rattle the knob and it opens. I take a deep breath and open the other door.

It's a long narrow hallway. A fence on one side indicates a staircase. I try to side-step the fence, but the space is too small. I walk down the 's another door, leading to another bedroom that's empty except for a queen-sized bed with pale orange bedding, a small desk, a computer, and nothing else. I try to turn on the computer, but there's no power. I sigh and leave the room, quietly tip-toeing down the stairs.

At the bottom, there's a fairly large kitchen with a few cabinets. I'm a bit hungry, so I open them to see what they conceal.

They're all empty except for the one on the end, which has a compass, three small cooked slabs of meat, twelve arrows in a sheath, a bow, a small spear, a knife, and two loaves of bread.

That's odd, I think to myself, why would someone hide weapons in their kitchen cabinet, and not bring them with them when they left?

The house is completely empty, except for a worn pack in the coat-closet. I put the compass in my pocket, the meat and bread in the pack, the knife into my belt loop, the spear in the arrow sheath, the sheath around my back by a leather strap. I hold the bow, and load an arrow in. The pack is a bit heavy, but it gets a bit lighter as I explore the house and eat a loaf of bread to calm my hunger.

It satisfies me.

In what seems to be a garage, there's a small boy, pacing. He wears a dusty brown shirt and orange-brown pants. He also has a brown pack on his back. He turns and screams when he sees me, quiet and feeble, cowering in fear in the corner, shaking.

He screams so loud I jump, spilling the contents of my bag, and hitting my head on the low-set beam above me.

I moan and grit my teeth, but I can't make any sound. I don't know what's outside the garage.

I approach the boy slowly, and he gets up and runs across the room. He's barefoot, and his foot catches on the knife.

He screams in pain.

I try my best to get the knife out, and I do, but the boy just backs away and collapses onto the ground, bleeding heavily.

I have to keep moving.

I rip cloth from my shirt and tie it to the boy's foot, but it doesn't do any good. A pool of crimson has formed around the unconscious boy.

I know the boy will die soon, and there's nothing I can do.

I turn and run through the side door, careful not to make noise.

Clutching the bow and arrow with sweaty hands, I creep along the side of the house to the next house over. There's nothing inside.

Peering out the window of the pale green neighboring house, I nearly scream. A pack of young men, all wearing a pale gray shirt and dark gray pants, maybe eighteen, hold large guns and stand above a crumpled body of a small girl. I back against the wall, crouching so they don't see me.

I sneak another look at the men before creeping out of the other door of the house.

Then I see him: a muscular man with orange tussled hair. He wears a plain pale orange shirt and brown pants. He carries a gun and a bloody dagger.

Suppressing a scream of terror, I turn on my heels and race back to the pale purple house I came from.

I breath heavily. I listen through the wall of the garage to see if I can hear him, moaning, breathing, moving, anything.

I hear only a cold silence.

Creeping down the street, I slip into what seems to be a public pool. The iron bars are fairly spaced so I can slip between. I duck when I see another man in a pale gray shirt and gray pants.

He stops for a moment, and glances around. I hold my breath. He continues, and I slip into the pool for a few moments, relaxing as my feel dangle in the cool water.

What am I doing?

I try my aim with my bow and arrows. Aiming, I let one fly. It hits the window of the admission building, shattering the glass, sending shards all over the pavement.

My aim is okay.

I creep through the locker room. There's a sign that says,

CONTROL ROOM  
DO NOT ENTER

I enter anyway, turning off all the power switches. Nothing happens.

Outside the door, the man in gray has gone, and I see ahead what looks like a hotel. There is a tunnel dividing up two buildings. A bridge spans over the tunnel. One sign says

LOBBY

and the other says

PRIVATE CONDO.

Both are empty, so I choose the condo. It's fairly small and empty.

Inside the lobby of the other building. I go up the stairs to the second floor, and swing myself into one of the rooms. I walk around calmly, and let myself on to the balcony. I clutch the railing and gaze around. My breath catches in my throat as I see a large, muscular man in all gray. He carries a pearly white dagger in one hand, and a small gun in the other. His head moves back and forth as he scans the streets.

I duck down and tuck my knees into my chest, hoping he doesn't see me.

I continue watching, and he doubles back across the street, back turned to me, and enters a red brick building.

I turn, my sleeve catching on the torch giving light to the balcony, and tears of pain streak down my checks. I stop in the middle of the minty green kitchen.

The bed feels like it's made of rocks, and I can't sleep. I go in search of another bed. The room next to the minty green one is completely empty. Odd, I think, that the room I chose just happened to be furnished.

The next room is also empty except for a small pink bed in he corner with a white pillow. I curl up in a tight ball and, holding my dagger out, fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

SC day 2

I wake late, realizing that the sun is up and it must be around eleven or twelve. I jump out if bed and hold my bow securely.

I head downstairs and out the door, turning swiftly down the tunnel under the bridge connecting the Private Condo to the Hotel.

There's a red and blue colored building ahead of me, with two aisles leading to two seperate sets of double doors. I don't see any signs as to what is through each door. There are empty stalls where people would have tied up their horses. I enter through the door on the right, walking down a short hallway and turning right at a sharp corner. There are two doors ahead of me, one says "Down only" and the other says "Up"

I choose the "up" door and the door shuts behind me. I push a button next to my thigh.

I speed upwards, then a metal door opens in front of me and I step out onto an open roof. Fences divide the space into one long line. I follow the angular movement of my empty line and reach a small platform. A small wooden gate, waist high, blocks my path. Beyond is a small bridge that leads to a large boat.

I open the gate and it's unlocked.

The boat deck is deserted, and I enter the first door I come to: the Control Room.

The last time I was in any control room was yesterday, and flicking off the switches did nothing. It was dissatisfying.

I enter the room, carefully closing the metal door behind me. The room is empty. Figures.

All that's there are some empty chairs, a ladder, switches, and lights. I climb the ladder carefully and side-step onto the second CR platform.

I flick a few switches next to the chairs, and nothing happens. I wish something would happen. An explosion. A secret door. Anything. It's only my second day and it's getting pretty boring.

Then, after I climb down, I see something. A small trapdoor in the middle of the floor. Is that what the switch controlled?

I climb into the hole, carefully scooting down the ladder into a large empty room. One side has stairs. There is a small sign that says "Prisoners"

I head up the steps into that room. All the spots are empty, except one. A small boy, maybe twelve or thirteen like me, lies on the ground, chained to the wall. His head hangs until I get close. He bolts upright.

"Who-Who are you?" His voice is feeble and shaky. He wears a dark brown shirt and pants, and black lace up boots. He has medium length untidy hair that appears four or five shades darker than his clothes. His long neck and skinny legs remind me of the boy in the garage. "Are you one of...them?"

I shake me head. "No. I awoke without memory." He looks relieved. I take out my knife and saw the chains and, after a long while, they break. He looks at me with gratitude.

"What's your name?" he asks.

"Violette-Rati." I say. "You?"

"Timotheos."

"Where do we go? I've been roaming for 2 days. We have to find a way to stop the people taking over."

"I heard them... talking about some hold of prisoners at the jail. The town used to be a trade hub. I came here to get a job. It was only my second day here when they took over. They rampaged through the town taking prisoners."

"That would explain why they were scanning the streets for victims. I saw packs of them. And a man in orange. He was the largest and most dangerous-looking one. Do you know of him?"

"I think he came with the others- on boats and wagons into town. I'm not sure but I think the man in orange was command of the attack."

"Let's go." I motion with my arm to him. He rises, brushing his knees from the dirt. I hand him my knife.

"We have to get the others. My sister would know where to go. We have to get into the prison."

"Okay."

We check the rest of the boat: empty.

We leave the on-shore building and head onto the street with the hotel.

Suddenly, a tall woman in dust brown approaches us with a gun. I pull out my bow and arrow, and shoot. It hits her foreleg and she screams. I shoot again. And again. Timotheos just stands behind me. She runs around the corner of what seems to be an abandoned cemetery and with on lest shot she collapses on the ground and her breathing stops. I know she's dead but I don't want to admit it so I turn away. I just killed someone.

There's silence between us. With a curt nod, I acknowledge his presence.

"Why-" He begins. I cut him off.

"Timotheos, I had to."

I silence him with a glare, and survey my surroundings. There's another tall woman in thr same dusty brown, and a stout, muscular man with a dark-brown colored jacket and gleaming yellow eyes. I don't want to risk going in there.

Signaling to Timotheos, I race down the street to a large brick and stone building with reinforced metal doors. Peering inside, it's empty.

I press a button and the doors slide open. We step inside and they slide closed behind us.

The ceiling is about forty feet high, with metal walls and floors. I remember the sign outside: Bomb shelter.

The elevator has signs pointing to them, and we enter it, still silent.

It makes a smooth and sudden stop, and the doors open. An illuminated hallway gleams before us. The floors are a pale rusty-red color. Timotheos plays with the light switches, turning on the lighted floors, then off. The on, then off. I punch his shoulder and he leaves them on.

There are only 2 furnished rooms. The rest are empty.

I choose the one on the right, and Timotheos the left. We say a quick good-night.

The bed is too hard: made of some stone thing. Instead, I curl up on the table, and let the darkness accept me.


End file.
